AUSTRALIAN.
BEE LORE AND
BEE CULTURE
ALBERT GALE ~
WILLIAM
BROOKS
AND CO.
LIMITED
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University of Illinois Library
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AUSTRALIAN
BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.
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Advance Australia.
AUSTRALIAN
Bee, LORE,
AND
pee CULTURE
INCLUDING
THE INFLUENCE OF BEES ON CROPS
AND
THE COLOUR OF FLOWERS AND ITS INFLUENCE
ON BEE LIFE.
BY
ALBERT GALE
Late Bee Expert and Lecturer on Aptculture to
N.S.W. Government.
eR
SYDNEY :
William Brooks & Co., Ltd., Printers,
17 Castlereagh Street.
1912,
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION OF BEES.
Native bees—First hive bees, by Captain Wallace—First adver- PAGE.
tisement—Controversary from 1822 to 1824—Taken to Jervis
Bay in 1840—White-fellow’s sugar bag—Honey in the early
seventies we a Ma he Be 7 an si 1-3
CHAPTER II.—INTRODUCTION OF THE ITALIAN BEE.
First Italian bees—Attacks by bee moth—‘‘Australian Bee
Manual,’’ references to, in 1886—Value of Italian queens
in 1882, onwards—Bee-keepers’ Association—Improvement
in hives—Foul brood, great destruction of bees by.. Re 4-6
CHAPTER III.—BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
Classification —Vertebrata —Annulosa — Anthropoda — Lepidop-
tera, coleoptera, hymenoptera, and apidae contrasted—
Genera and species of bees—Honey-producing and wax-pro-
ducing bees Se ue ae ae oe oe si 7-9
CHAPTER IV.—SPECIES AND VARIETIES.
Social bees of commercial value—The bee of the future—Apis
mellifica, English bee—Apis ligustica, Italian bee—Virgil’s
description—Historical references thereto—Golden and
leather coloured—lItalian drones, queens and workers—
Suitable for warm climates—Kast Indian bee, apis dorsata—
Great wax producers—Apis indica, description of—Apis
trigona, our native bee—Apis florea, description of—Car-
niolian bee—TJ'unic or Punic bee—Difference between species
and variety ba eH sf rte ae os oof 10-18
CHAPTER V.—BEES’ HOME. |
The bees’ home—Various hives—Bees bringing home supplies—
Bee-glue—Drone and worker cells—Wax-workers—Bees-
wax—Brood in various stages—Nurse bees—Uses of bees’
legs—The queen and her cell .. »: He a — 19-25
CHAPTER VI.—BEE-KEEPING.
Bee-keeping—Ancient history of—Francis Huber—The inmates
of bees’ home—Queen not royal—The mother bee—Always
a widow—Drones and workers always posthumas—Queen’s
power of reproduction—Queen cells—Neuter, a misnomer—
The eggs—Royal jelly—The cocoon—The bee-grub .. A 26-31
iv. CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.—QUEEN BEE.
Queen’s internal anatomy—Power of control of sexes—Selection Pacer.
of the fittest—Golden rule of queen breeding—Emergency
cells—Production of honey—Artificia! queen cells—Traits of
a good queen—Metamorphose from egg to perfect insect
Fecundation of a queen—Her marital flight—Queen from
maturity to maternity—Production of drones, its cause—
Impregnation of ovary, not the ovum—Productive and non-
productive female bees—Change of sexual character of
ege—Differentiation of eggs—Egg, embryonic stage to
maturity—Circumstances controling reproduction—inferior
queens
CHAPTER VIII.—THE DRONE.
Drones greatly maligned—Drone cells and their inmates—
metamorphose—Food during development—Comparative
area, &c., of wings—External anatomy of drone and
worker compared—Parthenogenical reproduction of—Not the
Ishmaels of bee—Five questions and the various answers
from correspondents, re drones—How to obtain high-class
drones
CHAPTER IX.—MYSTERIES OF DRONE PRODUCTION.
Not lazy nor idle—Value of males—One mating only—Progeny
all female—Drones result of previous mating—Female pro-
geny, result of queen’s fecundation—Male progeny, result
of queen’s mother’s fecundation—Atavism—Perfect and
complete females—Perfect and incomplete females
CHAPTER X.—THE WORKING BEE.
Working female—Home duties—Foragers—As forest makers—
As florists—Novelties in flowers—Orchardists—Nature’s
workshops and workmen—Swammerdam on fecundation—
Development of egg and transformation—Moulting of larvae
—Chrysalis stages—Nurse bees, duties of—Wax workers—
Care of the young—Huber on nurse bees—Most useful in
the division of swarms
CHAPTER XI.—FERTILE WORKERS.
Procreative yworkers—Drone-laying queens—mysteries of the
hive—Superseding queens
CHAPTER XII.—SELECTION FOR STOCK.
Selection of bees for stock purposes—Select the fittest and these
survive—Mating uncontrolable—Can select the dam but not
the sire—Select so as to excel in gentleness and labour—
Resultant characteristics seen only in progeny—There is a
barrier to overcome
32-53
54-60
61-63
64-68
69-70
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.—EDUCATING BEES.
Ornamental comb building—How to select bees and hives for the
purpose—Results—Successes and _ failures—Differences in
working abilities of bees—Physical energy
CHAPTER XIV.—WHY DO BEES SWARM?
Nature’s reasons—Francoise Huber on swarming—Some errors—
Early Spring conditions—Supply of pollen an incentive—
Drones on the wing—Hours of swarming—Queen not firse
to leave—Piping of queens—Swarming not for want of room
—Naturalist’s errors in regard to swarming—Signs of swarm-
ing—Parables—Natural and artificial swarming
CHAPTER XV.—SWARM CATCHING, HIVING, AND TRANS-
FERRING.
Special call notes—Scouts—Bee-song on settling—Not led by the
queen—Origin of beating frying pan when swarming—
Queen not first to settle—‘‘Be gentle’’—Natural swarms—
How to hive—Place of rendezvous—Decoy boxes—Early
swarms—To prevent swarming—Vagabond swarms—How to
find queen in swarm—An adage—Site for permanent home—
Queen handling—Queen’s wing should not be clipped—Time of
swarming—Swarm removed to permanent home—The next
day—Casts 86-100
CHAPTER XVI.—TAKING BUSH SWARMS.
Tools and implements—Smoke bellows—Get the bees into a
box—Save all brood comb—To secure the queen—Main
object ; bees and brood-combs not honey aA Bt .. 103-107
CHAPTER XVII.—HANDLING.
Eyes, ears, fingers—Manipulation—Kindness and gentleness—
Docility—Bee knowledge—Length of bee life—Subdued by
smoke—Language of bees—Don’t stand in their way—
When and how to examine—Charging the smoker—How
to smoke—Signs of subjugation Me af i .. 108-112
CHAPTER XIX.—DIVISION OF SWARMS.
When to divide—Conditions for—The season for—Internal
appearances of hive—Virgin queen—Necessity for fertile
queens—Summary zie Hs as te om .. 113-116
vi. CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.—RE QUEENING.
Change necessary—Throw-backs—Mating haphazard—Parentage
known by progeny—Life of queen, drone, worker—Karly
stage of queen to lay—Queen’s procreative powers subsiding
—Workers’ love diminishes—Various ways of re-queening—
Caging new queen—Bee-candy—Grafting cells—Chloro-
forming—Why not always accepted
CHAPTER XXI.—TRANSFERRING.
Maxim—Subduing—Drumming—Manipulating—Like begets like
—Confidence required—Charging the smoker—Virgil’s
method—Description of illustration from figure 1 to figure 9
PAGE.
117-121
122-131
CHAPTER XXII.—THE HISTORICAL BEE-HIVE—ITS
EVOLUTION.
Amateur apiarists—Artificial bee-homes—Bible references—
India, Egypt, Japanese sun-dried clay-hives—Early exper-
mentors in hive construetion—Various styles of hives—
Early germ in bar frames—Huber’s discoveries—Dzierzon’s
top-bar—Langstroth movable frame—Evolution of bar
frames—Nearing perfection—Value of the bar frame—Spac-
ing—Fixing foundation comb—Correct spacing by bees—
Bees and natural comb building—Bar frame, rise and pro-
gress—Shape and_ size—Storing honey—Brace combs—
Attachment of comb to frame—Dimensions—Natural heat
required—Nature’s bee space—Shallows—British Association
—Various improvements—Summary of hives—Machine
made hives—Hoffman’s metal ends—Narrow bottom bar—
Antipropolising inventions—Langstroth’s 61 reasons for his
perfect hive—Materials—Convex and concave bevels, advan-
tages of guide for measurements—Bee-space—Quantity of
timber required—Iron guages—Heddon’s measurement of—
Other hives—Langstroth’s simplicity, measurement of
132-138:
CHAPTER XXII.—MOVABLE BOTTOM BOARDS FOR THE
LANGSTROTH SIMPLICITY HIVE.
Measurements of V entrance No. 1—Measurements of No. 2—
Alighting board—Measurements of roofs—Quilt—Full-size
bar frame measurement—Centre bar—Shallows—Division
boards—Frame blocks, measurements of—Description of
Shallows—Division boards—Frame block, measurements of
—Description of fig. 2—Measurements of
CHAPTER XXIV.—CONCRETE FLOORS.
Superior advantages of—Measurements—Description of dia-
grams ’
139-150)
CONTENTS. vii.
CHAPTER XXV.—HAWKESBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
APIARY.
1, Géneral views—2 shows floor, wire cradle, and sections— PAGE.
Various hives in use in college apiary—The kiosk—Removing
hives and bees to another site : ne oe .. 154-160
CHAPTER XXVI.—ADVANCE OF BEE-LIFE UNDER
DOMESTICATION.
California—Extensive apiaries—Value of apparati—Honey har-
vests—N.S.W. National prizes a hobby—Ornamental apiaries
—As an article of diet—Some uses for honey ae .. 161-165
CHAPTER XXVII.—APPLIANCES AND HOW TO USE THEM.
How to manipulate—Protection—Bee veils—Bee gloves—Other
protections .. vs au ae ae a Ai .. 166-169
CHAPTER XXVIII.—CHARACTERISTIC SITES FOR AN APIARY.
Make the most of it—Uses for honey—Will it pay ?—Flower
culture—Gardening—Will it pay ?—Bees kept on house root
—Bees at Agricultural Shows .. ee ba ar .. 170-1765.
CHAPTER XXIX.—HIVE ARRANGEMENTS.
Success and failure—As a hobby—Semi-circular and_ straight
quincunx plan—Advantages of—Bush-house apiary—lIts fit-
tings—Berlepsch hive preferable “3 ee a .. 176-181
CHAPTER XXX.—EVOLUTION OF THE BEE-HIVE.
Domestication — Nature’s home — Clay-hives — Hollow logs—
Hives of the first bee-keepers—Wild honey—Karly writers—
Destroying bees for the honey—Nutt’s supernumary box—
The bar frame—Huber’s book hive—Langstroth and Dzier-
zon—Bees working in the open—Spacing—Bar-frames—
Heddon frame, its measurements—Shallow frames—Quinby
and other types, measurements of—Bar frames in parts—
Langstroth frame, its measurements—Thick top bar—Hoff-
man ends—Narrow bottom bar—Guage for staples—Ready-
made bar-frames—Langstroth’s 61 pros and cons—Materials
—Brooy chamber—Half-size super-roof—Quilts—Full-size
frame, page 221, and for shallows—Dummy—Section cradle
—Sections—Half-size dummy—Section holder—Sections see
diagram, page 228—Gale’s wire cradle—Berlepsch hive—
Hive in parts—The frame—Description of observatory doors
—How arranged—The verandah—Advantages and _ other-
wise—The combination hive—Its advocates and its pros and
cons st, ain oe ae ie ae oo .. 182-234
viii. CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXI.—BEE-KEEPING IN BAR-FRAME HIVES.
Beginner’s kit—How to get your bees—Transferring from trees
—-Foundation comb—Home made foundation comb—Gloves—
The smoker—Swarm catcher—Uncapping knife—Solar ex-
tractor Pic
CHAPTER XXXII.—BEE-WINTERING.
““Apiology’”’—Climatic changes—Essentials for bee-life and
health—Winter feeding—Kind of food—Temperature—
Huber’s experiment—Ventilation—Numerical strength of
colony—Outside protection—Internal dampness
CHAPTER XXXIII.—NOTES ON HONEY.
Virgil—Honeys from Crete, &c.—Cuban honey—Parramatta
and Gordon honey—Orange blossom honey—Almond flavored
—White box, yellow box, and prickly tea-tree honey—
Uses of honey
CHAPTER XXXIV.—THE VALUE OF BEESWAX.
Prices for wax—Wax production—Nature’s economy—Huber’s
experiments by forced production—Bees lengthen the cells
—Adulteration—Demand for beeswax—Profits—Alcohol—
Specific gravity—Cheshire on adulterations—Testing for
adulterations — Discoloration — Causes — Moulding — Black
combs—Loss of wax—Solar extractor—Apis dorsata
PAGE.
235-241
242-249
252-256
CHAPTER XXXV.—THE INFLUENCE OF BEES ON CROPS.
Essential addenda for crops—Nature’s reproductive army—
Flowering and flowerless plants—No bees, no fruit—Butter-
flies—Cross-pollenisation—Reproductive organs of plant
life—Nature’s use for blossoms—Stamens and_ pestils—
Fructification of entomophilous flowers, &¢c.—Parts of a
blossom and their uses—Bees and pollen or bee-bread—
The corolla—The calyx—Daylight and twilight flowers—
The nectary—Analogy between flowers and insects—Dar-
win on orchids—Male and female flowers on different plants
—Pollen for sale—Nature’s safeguard against in-and-in re-
production—Herodotus—Apples and pears—A grain of pollen
necessary for every grain of seed—Cause of mis-shapened
fruits—Matrimonial ceremonies—Conjugal traits of plant
life—Bees gathering pollen—Adaptation of bees’ bodies
for pollen gathering—Ovule receives the ‘‘verm of life’’—
Accomplished—How fruit becomes mature—Bees make no
mistakes—Work of butterfly and bee contrasted—Influence
of dust and rain storms on fruit crops—Destruction caused
by insects other than bees—Bees have few enemies—The
fall of unpollenised fruits.
257-273
CONTENTS. ix:
CHAPTER XXXVI.—ARTIFICIAL FERTILISATION.
Bees the great fruit producers—Inoculated or cross-pollenised— Page.
Removal of pollen—Sexual flowers—How to effect inocula-
tion of the female flower—How to protect the essential
flowers—Instruments to use to effect fertilisation—Hybri-
disation—Healthy stameniferous and pistiliferous plants
necessary—Bisexual blooms—Double flowers—Plants _ re-
turn to earlier forms—Pollen blooms, the cells of life;
pistillate blooms, the cells of matter—Hybrid plants, how
to perpetuate—‘‘Natural orders,’’ illustrations from the
poultry yard—Nature’s agents in the production of food for
man—Bee par excellence as procreative agents with entomo-
philous plants—Handicrafts, illustrated in bee-life—Bee-
keepers and orchardists’ confederates—Don’t check bee-
life—Color and perfume of flowers—Ants, bees, and wasps
—Sir John Lubbock—Inconspicuous blossoms more attrac-
tive than highly colored—Lubbock’s experiments—Grant
Allen’s advertisements—Brilliant foliage v. bright colored
flowers—Artificial flowers—The agent that attracts bees—
Nasturtium—Double flowers not attractive to bees—Bees’
various movements in gathering honey and pollen—Turnip
blossoms and lucerne flowers—Poppies—English bees with
Australian flowers—Australian white flowers more attractive
to bees than bright colors—Bright colors fail to attract
imported bees—Australian bee-keepers’ experiments .. 274-292
CHAPTER XXXVII.—COLOR OF FLOWERS AND ITS INFLUENCE
ON BEE-LIFE.
Entomophalous and anemophilous flowers—Sexes among plants
—Locomotive powers in plant-life—Difficulties in the way
of cross fructification—Nature of pollen—Bees pre-eminent
in storing pollen—Preceptive organs of insects—The native
bee—Adaptability of flowers to bees and vice versa—Aus-
tralian honey plants—Nuptial flight of bees—Refutation of
authorities—Lubbock on ‘‘Bees, Ants, and Wasps’’—
Tests inaccurate—Observations in Botanic Gardens—Mr.
Baker, Technical Museum—Turnips and lucerne—Darwin
on bees’ ‘‘taste for coloured flowers’’—Poppies—Bees neg-
lecting to work on certain flowers—Why?—Sign boards
and fingerposts a hasty conclusion—Grant Allen—Nastur-
tium—Agricultural examination papers—Bees_ disregard
their Old World training when in Australia—Their loss of
education after they cross the equatorial line .. .. 293-302
CHAPTER XXXVIII.—BEE CALENDAR.
From January to December, inclusive—The work for each
month he co ae a ne ar str .. 3803-313
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Advance Australia (Frontispiece)
Honey Bees
Bee Farming (past and _ present)
Queen cages and protectors
Queen cages (another type)
Queen cells
Queen cells on natural combs
Queen cells on bar-frames
Alley queen nursery (reversed)
Nursery cage se
Comb built in the open air
Queen rearing
Shallow bar-frame
Old straw hives
N.S.W. written by bees
Catching a swarm
Taking a clustering swarm
Transferring bees from a log
The smoker
Introducing queen cages
The author transferring bees at the Hawkesbury College ..
“Yes, we believe it’’
The Heddon Hive
Bottom Board, No. 1
Bottom Board, No. 2.
Alighting Board
Descriptive Bar-frame
Frame Block, Fig. 1
Frame Block, Fig. 2
Concrete floors for bee-hives
View of Apiary and Kiosk, Agricultural College
List oF ILLUSTRATIONS. PaGE.
xii.
Hive and section cradle filled with sections 155
A Bee Farm 173
Hive Arrangements 177
Bush-house Apiary 179
Summer Shelter 185
Colony of bees on Geebung plant .. 189
Shallow Frame aS 195
Frame Angles (thick top bar) 198
Measurement of Frame (new comb) 199
Self-spacing thick top bar 200
Staple Gauge ae = 202
Langstroth’s Hive and its Fittings .. bi a te ee 7A |
Cradles for sections 228
Section - ” BS oe 229
Wire Section Cradle (Gale’s) ae - is “i bg. .. 229
Berlepsch Hive and Frame 231
Foundation Comb... 4S te a oe yee 52 aan
Honey Extractor (Novice’s) Aes a2 7 eg ry he 3)
Smeker (Pender’s) be a Lt 42 ; : : ae 3!
Uncapping Knife Bs ee 2 oe Pi Ay o4 2 ae
Solar Extractor ae as ig BP ce 5 a anes
Bee-Wintering i We ‘s Se af - Med yes
Abdomen of worker showing wax pockets and wax scales .. .. 206
Essential or sexual organs of a blossom ae oy ve py eed aI
An open blossom showing the organs and floral envelope .. seal '
A deformed apple .. a = rh as = oe .. 268
Bee in the act of fertilising ae sre ae Ee itis Dak
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AUSTRALIAN BEE, LORE AND
be, CULTURE:
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION OF BEES TO AUSTRALIA.
As a business to which a man may devote his sole attention, as a
subsidiary to farming or fruit-growing, as an addendum, for
pocket money for settlers’ wives, or as a pastime for persons of
leisure in suburban homes, beekeeping has nowadays throughout
Australia, so many votaries, that it almost goes without saying
some brief account of the inception and growth of apiculture
under the Southern Cross will be appreciated.
It is a singular fact that, although both in the American
continent and our own, indigenous honey producing flora abounds;
the most diligent search by the entomologist and other natural-
ists, on the discovery of these new lands, was not rewarded by the
discovery of any social honey-bee having a commercial value.
Certainly there are indigenous bees in America, but the honey-
bee was an introduction. In Australia the only social honey-
storing insect in any way resembling the true hive bee is the
little so-called native bee, 7'’rigona carbonaria. The native bee
of America does not occur here. Our native bee, Zrogona,
is found in Africa and India, as well as throughout Australia.
The honey produced by these native bees is variable in quality,
and never equal to that of the hive-bee. It is not so very long
ago, however, since ‘‘wild’’ honey was much sought after in our
Australian bush as one of the greatest of luxuries. The fact that
the Z’rogona has no sting induced many people who would, in’
those days of crude, ruthless methods have shrunk from an
adventure with social honey-bees to wage war against the stores
of the ‘‘wild bush bees.’’
In 1822 the first hive bees were brought to this part of the
world (Sydney), by a Captain Wallace, or Willis, in the ship
‘‘Tsabella,”’ according to Haydon. From the bees thus introduced
colonies were propagated and distributed inland. In the Govern-
ment Gazette, of 21st June, 1822, there appeared this advertise-
Y AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
ment :—‘‘Hive of bees for sale by Mr. Parr. Bees imported by
Captain Wallace (or Willis).’’ In a number of the old Sydney
Gazette, dated Friday, lst November, 1822, there appears this
paragraph :—‘‘We congratulate our readers upon the complete
establishment of that most valuable insect, the bee, in this country.
During the last three weeks three swarms of bees have been
produced from two hives, the property of D. Wentworth, Esq.,
purchased by him from Captain Wallace, of the ‘Isabella,’ at his
estate, Homebush, near Parramatta.’’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, of 10th August, 1863, it
stated that at a meeting of the Acclimatisation Society of New
South Wales, bees were first brought to this country by Captain
Braidwood Wilson, from Hobart Town, in 1831. This was contra-
dicted in a later issue of the same paper in these words :—‘‘Bees
were brought from England to Sydney in the year 1824, in the
ship ‘Phoenix,’ which sailed from Portsmouth in March of that
year.’’ This, too, is evidently a mistake, or perhaps another
importation, as is evident from the fact that bees were advertised
for sale in 1822, which has already been referred to. In 1840,
a settler at Jervis Bay purchased two colonies of bees, for which
he paid £4, and engaged two aboriginals to carry the hives on
their heads a distance of 40 miles. These were the black or
English bees, sometimes termed the German bee. For most
of these dates and extracts I am indebted to Mr. S. M. Mowle,
Usher of the Black Rod, of the Legislative Council, who married
the only daughter of the late Captain Braidwood Wilson, R.N.
From the foregoing small beginnings the descendants of these
bees soon spread themselves fairly well over New South Wales.
Of course, these bees were kept in hives or boxes of any or every
shape or style. The bar-frame hive was then unknown. Under
the old system anyone could have bees who had the courage to rob
them. The stray or escaped swarms of bees took to the bush. The
aboriginals soon learned from their white brothers how to subdue
bees by means of smoke, and with tomahawk and firestick, aided
by strong vines, would ascend the loftiest and smoothest of trees
to obtain the ‘‘white-fellow’s sugar bag.’’ The aboriginals have
no word in their own language for the introduced bee. The
flavour of the honey from the little native bee was no stranger
to them, but they were not long in discovering that both in
quality and quantity ‘‘white-fellow’s sugar-bag’’ was far superior.
In the early seventies, so plentiful had bees become in the
INTRODUCTION OF BEES TO AUSTRALIA. S
bush that in the old George-street Markets, dishes and buckets
full of it, mixed with dead and dying bees, dead larvae in all
stages, broken comb, and rotten wood, were exposed for sale under
the cognomen of bush honey. To look at it was anything but
appetising. Better samples were bottled and sold under the name
of ‘‘prime garden honey.’’
About 1872, our bees met with an enemy that bid fair to
almost exterminate them—the bee moth put in an appearance,
from whence we know not. Hitherto no skill was required in the
management of bees that were kept at that time. New swarms
were put into a piece of a hollow log, sawn off evenly at both ends,
with pieces of stringy-bark nailed over the openings, and the bees
had to obtain ingress or egress as best they could. Gin cases, tea
chests, or boxes of other descriptions, were preferred, but in the
bush at that time these were not always to be obtained. Mani-
pulation of these hives was as crude as the grotesquely-made
hives. There was no consideration given for the lives of the bees.
These early beekeepers knew little or nothing of the importance
of the queen bee; they did not understand ‘‘no queen, no bees,’’
therefore no honey. It was a general destruction. When the
bees were robbed, wax, brood, comb, and queen were all sacrificed
for the honey, and the waste of the latter was almost as great in
quantity as that obtained. This slovenly way of bee-keeping,
combined with the ravages of the bee moth, would have set a
limit to the days of bee-keeping in this country had not means
been devised to check it.
4 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE
CHAPTER II.
INTRODUCTION OF THE ITALIAN BEE,
Unper the foregoing adverse circumstances thinking men
looked around for something that would be the salvation of the
bees. It was long believed that the Italian bee (Apis ligustica)
was an insect far superior in many ways to the English bee (Apis
mellifica). Not only was it superior as a honey-gatherer, but it
was reported to be far more alert, and more persevering in resisting
the attacks of enemies, more especially the bee moth, which in
England is known as the wax moth. So great was the onslaught
with these moth pests that people owning as many as 200 colonies in
a few years found themselves without a single bee. How to con-
tend against this pest was an unsolved problem. The bar-frame
style of hive was then little known, and the method of fighting the
moth in the gin-case hives was not understood; and so it remains
to this day. Not only were the bees kept in the crude
methods of the day decimated by this pest, but those that had
taken to bush life suffered, perhaps, to a greater extent than those
more immediately under the control of man. On the Clarence
River, to my knowledge, in the latter part of the sixties, it was not
unusual for men to take a horse and dray and go in search of bees’
nests, returning with two or three hundredweights of honey.
Neither was it an unusual thing to find two or three bees’ nests in
the same tree. But in later years these, through the ravages of the
bee moth, have nearly all disappeared. From the general slaughter
among the bees caused by the pest named, some few bee-keepers,
with more watchfulness than others, saved a few colonies out of
the general wreck. To perpetuate and multiply these was the
question of questions. The Italian bee was looked to for over-
coming the trouble, and enthusiastic beekeepers were not long in
importing the far-famed golden and leather coloured Italian bees.
In the Australian Bee Manual by Isaac Hopkins of New
Zealand, the introduction of the Italian bee in the Southern Hemis-
phere is thus referred to :-—‘‘It was stated by Dr. Gerstaecker that
four stocks of Ligurian bees were shipped in England by Mr. J.
W. Woodbury, in September, 1862, and that they arrived safely in
INTRODUCTION OF THE ITALIAN BEE. ay
Australia after a passage of 79 days.’’ It does not appear,
however, that these stocks succeeded and propagated any more than
a colony which Mr. Angus Mackay, Editor of the Z'own and
Country Journal in Sydney, subsequently took to Brisbane, at
great expense, from America. Mr. 8. McDonnell, of Sydney, im-
ported two colonies from America in 1880, and succeeded in raising
stocks from them; and, later, Mr. Abrahams (now of Beecroft).
a German bee-master, brought some colonies with him from Italy
in 1883, settled in Parramatta, and, having succeeded in rearing a
pure race of his queens, started an apiary for the Italian bee-
farming Company, of which he is manager and Mr. McDonnell
Secretary.’’ The date of the Bee Manual from which this is taken:
is 1886.
In 1882 Mr. C. Fullwood, Brisbane, had sent to him direct
from Charles Bianconini, of Bologna, twelve Italian Queens. Of
these five arrived alive, and of a second shipment in the following
year seven reached their new home safely. In these early years of
the introduction of the Italian bee into Australia, the price of
pure-bred tested queens, reared in the colony, was from £2 to £3:
each; and I have heard that in some cases as high a figure as
£5 had been asked. Of late years I have seen three advertised for
7s. 6d. .
The inauguration of Bee-keepers’ Associations for the assistance:
of amateurs, and exchange of thought and bee-keeping ideas, fol-
lowed soon after the introduction of the Italian bee. These.
Associations were based on similar lines to those established in
England, which are acknowledged to have given incalculable benetit
to the peasant classes in the rural districts, and the results have
been equally beneficial in this State. It was never the intentions
of these associations to do more than give instructions to aid people
to add luxuries to their own table, in the same way as poultry-
keeping, fruit-culture, kitchen-gardening, &c., is carried on, so as
to expand the earnings of wage-earners, farmers’ wives and daugh-
ters, and such-like.
With the pure Italian bees which were at that time expensive,
came the necessity for the improvements in hives to permit of their
successful and profitable management. The Langstroth simplicity
bar-frame hive was welcomed as the very thing for housing these
costly insects, and although there are many types of bar-frame
hives available, the Langstroth bar-framed hive still holds chief
place in the esteem of up-to-date bee-keepers.
Some years ago, a disease, far more destructive to bees than
6 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.
the bee moth, and now bids fair to be far more serious, made its
appearance amongst our bees—foul Brood. On one occasion, at
Bombala, I saw over 100 colonies of bees destroyed by this disease.
‘The hives were filled with dead bees and festering foul-brood com»
thus spreading the disease far and wide, for the disease is conta-
gious. Districts that were regarded as ideal as apicultural ones
were almost swept clear of bees. If keepers of bees, be it but
a single hive or an extensive apiary, earnestly set about acquiring
a knowledge of the character of the disease and of the causes that
are conducive to its spread, and co-operate with their bee-keeping
neighbours and the Associations in suppressing it, the bee-keeping
industry will be freed from a disaster that threatens to overwhelm
it.
THE BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 7
CHAPTER -IIit.
THE BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
ALL natural objects belong to one of three great divisions—mineral,
vegetable, or animal. In classifying any object of nature, the first
thing is to find to which of these kingdoms it belongs. These
kingdoms are cut up into groups, and are divided and subdivided
for the better understanding of the group or division any member
of either kingdom may occupy.
Nature is very fond of diversity. She has been very lavishing
in the distribution of her infinite resources in all three kingdoms.
In the animal world alone she has spread out before us nearly half
‘a million classes of creatures endowed with life which inhabit land or
sea. To better understand this vast army, of which the honey-bee is
a member, each one is marshalled under eight or nine different heads.
This splitting up is for the purpose of narrowing down or limiting
any one of them to a known position in the kingdom to which they
belong, so that in speaking, reading, or writing of them the mean-
ing will be the more intelligible and comprehensive. Thus, a bee
is as much an animal as a horse, cow, or fish, but in their classifica-
tion there are many grades between them. A horse resembles
a fish far more than it does a bee. The horse and fish have internal
skeletons and backbones (vertebrata), but the honey-bee has
neither. Again, the honey-bee resembles a spider, crab, or earth-
worm more than it does a horse or fish, but there is a very wide
difference between a bee and the first three named. A bee is like
a spider or worm in that none of them have an internal skeleton or
framework of bones. The framework of bees, spiders, worms, &c.,
are of the same construction, 7.e., made up of external rings.
Animals whose bodies are made up of external horny rings are
termed Annulosa. The organs of locomotion in spiders, worms,
&c., have feet. Bees, also, although they fly, walk upon feet. But
the feet of a bee differ very much from those of a worm. There
are joints in the feet of spiders and bees, but there are none in those
of worms. Animals, the framework of whose bodies are composed
of horny rings and have jointed feet, belong to that division of the
animal kingdom termed Arthropoda.
Bees have jointed feet, and are, therefore, separated from
8 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.
worms, &c., but she still keeps company with spiders. Arthropoda
are divided into classes. The honey-bee belongs to the class Insecta.
Here she leaves the company of spiders and crabs, and is joined
with butterflies, ants, beetles, &c. The honey-bee is not much like
a beetle, but more so than it 1s like a spider. Compare the body of
a spider with that of a bee, you cannot but notice that the spider’s
body is made up of two parts only, head and body, and her eight
legs are attached to the latter. The bulk of a bee’s body is com-
posed of three parts—head, thorax, and abdomen. Bees have but
six legs, and these are attached to the thorax. Again, spiders lay
eggs, and so do bees, but the young hatched from spiders’ eggs
differ greatly from those hatched from bees’ eggs. From the
spiders’ eggs hatch out young spiders as perfect in form as their
parents. The young hatched from bees’ or butterflies’ eggs are as
dissimilar as an earthworm is from a butterfly, and in few respects
like the bee or butterfly that laid the egg. From the butterfly’s
egg caterpillars are hatched. At first these young caterpillars are
very small; they grow rapidly, and when full grown, they enter
another stage of development—a chrysalis or pupa. This third
stage is so unlike the caterpillar it developed from, were we not
acquainted with the fact, it could not be conceived that it is in any
way connected with the parent that laid the egg. In course of
time, from this strange-looking chrysalis, a perfected bee or butter-
fly emerges. Spiders belong to the sub-kingdom Annulosa, and to
the division Arthropoda, but not to the class /nsecta, because they
do not go through those stages in developing to the perfect form or
imago, as bees, butterflies, &c., do. Spiders change from egg ta
imago only. Here the honey-bee must part from the company
of butterflies, beetles, &c. These latter are insects as much as
bees are, but there is a great difference between them, chiefly in
their wings. Butterflies belong to the order of insects termed
Lepidoptera, 7.e., insects having wings covered with feathery scales,
and beetles to the order Coleoptera, their true wings being pro-
tected under horny cases. Bees to the order Hymenoptera because
their membrane wings are thin, fibrous, and interwoven like net-
work. This order (Hymenoptera) contains the largest number of
families in the insect world. Some of them are very remarkable for
their social habits and wonderful instinctive traits of character. The
order Hymenoptera is narrowed down into families—Apide. In
it are included ants, hornets, wasps, ichneumons, bees, &c. All
these are very bee-like in their general form. We have not as yet
THE BEES’ POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 9
reached the particular position in the animal kingdom allotted to
true bees. The family Apzde is divided into genera. In one of
the divisions termed dps honey-bees are placed; accompanying
them are mason-bees, carpenter-bees, &c. These latter are short-
tongued members of the genus, and therefore are not honey-
gatherers. Nevertheless, the habits of the whole of them are
extremely interesting. Of long and short tongued bees there are
about 2000 varieties. The genus Apis is split into species, and the
honey-bee belongs to the species Mellifica, and here is the exact
position assigned to our friend, the harbinger of civilized man—
one of the very few insects that have been domesticated for his use,
and the only one that he has brought under his subjugation as an
auxiliary in supplying him with that highly essential article of diet,
honey.
Nevertheless, every member of the species is not equally pro-
fitable from a commercial point. Some varieties of this species are
profitable only as wax-producers. When we consider the increasing
demand in the Home market for Australian bees-wax, the
quantity of honey consumed by our hive bees in the production of
comb, and our local requirements for the manufacture of that
indispensable adjunct to profitable bee-keeping, artificial founda-
tion comb, it at once raises the question:—Would it not be a
prudent step to introduce into our State some highly profitable
wax-producers !
10 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.
CHAPTER IV.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF SOCIAL BEES.
THE genus Apis contains about 16 species and varieties of social
bees having a commercial value, and these are the only ones to be
dealt with here. A large number of bee-keepers favour crosses,
and the cross sought for—the ideal bee of the future—must be one
possessing untiring industry, great energy, and unlimited endur-
ance, the queen possessing a docile temper, vigorous constitution,
and known for her powers of fecundity, producing workers that
are unlimited honey-gatherers and builders of flat, highly-finished
combs, in which drone cells are not too numerous, the workers
possessing, like the mother, the mildest of tempers. That such a
variety of these industrious and interesting workers as the fore-
going describes will be produced is only a question of time.
The cat, a descendant of the most ferocious of felines, by years
of domestication and association with the human family, has
almost forgotten the use of her talons; so also the dog, the ox,
and the horse have almost forgotten their powers to injure; there-
fore it is not unreasonable to suppose the bee of the future,
although possessing a formidable sting, will, by careful breeding
and selection, refrain from using the power she possesses to inflict
injury.
The various races of bees differ greatly, and their geographical
distribution is almost as wide as the poles, being found in a state
of nature in both the temperate and torrid zones.
Whether the bee of the future, possessing all the qualifications
and attributes that we think it ought to possess, will be a pure
race or a cross that has not yet been produced time alone can
decide.
With the pure races of bees that have already been imported
into this State—black, Ligurian, and Carniolan—important steps
have been made towards the ideal worker.
Apis mellifica is too well known to need any description, but
a chapter on ‘The Species and Varieties of Bees” would be incom-
plete without reference to them. Our old friend the black bee was
the first variety imported into Australia, and, like the black
aboriginal human race of the continent, will be soon superseded by
@ superior variety.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF SOCIAL BEES. ll
Whether the black bee was the first variety that was domesti-
cated or not we have now no power of determining. The bees now
found where the human race was first cradled are varieties of
Apis ligustica. Therefore it is more reasonable to suppose that it
was the Ligurian rather than the English bee. Be that as it may,
it is the black bee that has followed in the wake of civilisation.
Wherever the colonist has planted his foot the black bee has
followed, but she is now fast making way for another variety that
is more fashionable in its attire. Nevertheless, the black bee
possesses some excellent traits that it will be well to retain with
the incoming race. Her comb-honey is far superior in appearance
to that of the Italian bee. This is the only attribute in which
she excels her yellow-banded sister.
Apis ligustica, also known as the Ligurian, the Italian, and
uhe yellow Alpine bee, has long been known to entomologists. It
1s supposed to be the bee that the Greeks and Romans wrote and
sang about.
Of the three varieties mentioned by Aristotle it is the one that
he speaks of as being “‘small and round in shape and variegated
in colour’’——his best variety. Virgil wrote of two varieties, and
speaks of the better of the two as being ‘‘variegated and of, a
beautiful golden colour.’’ They appear to have been very fashion-
able in the time of these ancient historians.
The fashions of this world change. After the lapse of more
than 2000 years these yellow-banded bees have again become the
favourite variety, not alone on account of their attractive markings
and form, but for the many excellent qualities they possess over
their old-fashioned black brethren.
In 1805 Spaniola described it, and was the first to call it the
Ligurian bee. He found it in the plains of Piedmont. Spaniola
gave the variety the name of Ligurian from the old Roman name
of the northern shores of the Gulf of Genoa, the district that is
hemmed in by the Carmic and Helvenic Alps. The bee of the
northern districts of Italy, generally known amongst the bee-
keepers as the leather-coloured Italian, differs somewhat from its
more southern neighbour.
This southern bee is smaller, more ‘‘ladylike,’’ and three of
the abdominal rings are of a bright golden yellow. This bee is
also found in Asia Minor, the islands adjacent thereto, and in the
Caucasus. Its nature is more excitable, and it cannot be depended
upon like that of the north. In America, Italian bees are now
12 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
being bred for high colour; four-banded, or even five-banded
bees have now become a fixed strain. Some time ago, Mr. Abram,
of Beecroft, obtained by careful breeding four-banded Italian bees,
but did not attempt to fix the strain, being convinced that breed-
ing bees for colour, like breeding fowls for feather, would result
in no advantage in their more useful qualities.
Busch in 1855 described the Italian as follows: ‘‘The workers
are smooth and glossy, and the colour of the abdominal rings is a
medium between the pale yellow of straw and the deeper yellow
of ochre.”’
“These rings have a narrow black edge, so that the yellow
(which might be called leather-coloured) constitutes the ground.”
This description tallies with that of the bee of Northern
Italy. Cheshire’s pen describes it more accurately. He says ‘‘the
first abdominal ring on the dorsal side mainly faces the thorax,
and may be missed by careless observation ; its lower edge only is
black. The upper two-thirds of the second is yellow; the upper
third smooth and hairless, because this passes beneath the ring
above it when the body is contracted. A band of yellow hair
covers the second-third and adds much to the beauty of the bee,
as the hairs and ground are alike yellow. The lower-third of the
ring is glossy black, carrying many microscopic hairs and a minute
fringe. The third ring resembles the second, while the fourth and
fifth carry yellowish hairs, but are otherwise black; the sixth ring,
black also, is nearly hairless.’’ These are the chief points that
mark the pure three-banded Italian bee.
This bee readily crosses with A. melificu, aud the cross thus
producled, as is usual with the crossing of other animals besides
bees, will partake of the character of both parents, some of the
offspring showing the characteristics of the male stronger than
the markings of the female, and others retaining more of the
peculiarities of the mother than the father. We often see in the
same swarm of crossbrids, bees differently marked.
The drones Apis ligustica differ from the workers in having
the upper half of their abdominal rings black and the lower half
yellow, and they are somewhat smaller than the drone of A. melli-
fica. As compared with the worker the under side of the abdomen
is yellower. In colonies where the workers are found to be uniform
in markings the queens greatly vary, some are dark and may be
mistaken by amateurs for the queens of A. mellifica. Other queens
are to be met with quite yellow, except a small dark brown dot on
each dorsal plate of the abdomen. Most Italian queens have
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF SOCIAL BEES. 13
the abdomen long and beautifully tapering towards the caudal
extremity. These yellow queens are very beautiful and have the
advantage of being more readily distinguished on the comb when
mixed with the workers than their darker compeers, an advantage
that should not be lost sight of, especially with those who have not
a very observant eye. The advantages that A. ligustica have over
A. mellifica may be summed up as follows:—The queens are ex-
tremely prolific, and as soon as one brood emerges from the chrysalis
she is ready to refill the brood cells with enormous quantities of
eggs. In this respect she greatly surpasses her black sister. It is
seldom one finds the brood comb of the latter regular. In the same
comb will be found eggs and larve in various stages of development.
In the brood combs of the Italian bee these irregularities are very
rare, the brood in each comb will be as even as sealed honey, every
cell having its inmate in the same stage as its neighbours. They
recover from spring dwindling early in the season, and as the early
honey-bearing flowers expand they have a large army ready to
enter upon the labours of the field. The variety as a rule is
possessed of a mild temper. Nevertheless I have seen the progeny
of some queens far more irritable than any black bee I ever
handled. A little smoke will easily subdue the Italian bee, and
they bear manipulating well. It is not an unusual thing to see
the bees at work while the comb is held in the hand, and occasions
have occurred of the queen depositing her eggs in the presence of
the observer. They adhere to the comb with greater tenacity than
the black bee; the latter can easily be removed by a sudden jerk,
whilst the Italian bee has nearly always to be brushed off. They
bear artificial swarming much earlier than our old friend the black
bee, and to an extent that would soon decimate if not entirely
annihilate the latter. They defend their stores with the courage
of a British tar, whilst that same attribute makes them marauders
and determined robbers of their weaker neighbours. A fairly
strong colony is proof against the wax moth. For industry, and as
honey gatherers, they have not as yet been surpassed. Mr. Radl-
kofer says ‘‘Not only are Italian bees distinguished by an earlier
awakened impulse to activity and labour but they are remarkable
also for the sedulous use they make of every opening flower, visiting
some on which common bees are seldom or never seen.’’
Morawits and Douglas say ‘‘The brighter coloured southern
bee of Italy is more suitable for hot climates,” whilst Langstroth
(speaking of the Italian bees generally) says that ‘‘the Italian bees
are less sensitive to cold than the common kind’’ (black). ‘lhere
14 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
is no doubt a good deal of truth in both statements, for bees like
other animals adapt themselves to climatic changes more readily
than members of the vegetable kingdom. In the warm valley of
the Hunter River the leather-coloured bee is the favourite.
Italian drones are far more vigorous than those of the black
bee, and as a rule are on the wing much earlier in the day. The
virgin queen has also this early rising habit. This habit of the
sexes is a great aid in keeping a good strain unmixed, especially
in a district where black drones are numerically weak. Dzierzon
was under the impression that where both kinds of drones exist in’
about equal numbers the Italian queens will'usually encounter the:
Italian drones, because both drones and queens are more active
and agile than those of the common bee.
The reason of the Italian bee again becoming the favorite
after the lapse of so many years was without doubt the beauty of
its markings and the mildness of its temper, the latter making it
the ladies’ bee par excellence, and the amount of care and attention
that has been bestowed upon it has developed traits and charac-
teristics that could never have been brought out in the black bee.
If the same amount of care and attention be bestowed upon it.
during the next quarter of a century that has been bestowed upon
it during the last, the ideal bee of the future will soon become a
reality.
Apis dorsata.—This bee is sometimes termed the giant bee of
Kast India. No variety of bees build such slabs of comb as this
one. Of ten times under the ledges of rocks, or hanging from the
thick branches of trees, combs 6 feet long by 3 feet in width are
met with. A. dorsata frequently appear to build these slabs of
wax for the mere fun of the thing, or for the purpose of keeping
their ’prenticed hand in practice, which must be accounted as an
advantage in their utility as wax producers. A. zonata, of the
Philippine Islands, is said to be a larger bee than A. dorsata, but
it is highly probable that it is a variety of the latter. In con-
structing their comb, the cells in which drones are reared do not
appear to differ in size from that of the worker’s cell. Mr. Frank
Benton was the first to give any reliable information in regard to
these bees. He visited India in 1880-81, and in the jungles ob-
tained colonies by cutting the comb from their original attach-
ments. He placed these colonies in frame hives, and permitted
them to have free ingress and egress, and they did not desert these
enclosed habitations. They were found not to be so ferocious as
had been represented. With proper precautions when hived they
Sie oN oe
SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF SOCIAL BEES. 15
HONEY BEES.
Worker, Carniolan Variety of Apes melliica—twice natural size.
Giant Honey Bee of East India (Apis dorsata), Worker—twice natural size.
Giant Honey Bee of East India ( Apis dorsata), Drone—twice natural size.
Drone, Carniolan Variety of Apis mellifica—twice natural size.
Queen, Carniolan Variety of Apis mellifica—twice natural size.
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SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF SOCIAL BEES. 17
are easily handled, even without smoke. From the quantity of
honey and wax present when these bees were obtained, it was evident
they are good gatherers. Owing to illness Mr. Benton failed to
take these bees to America for the purpose of acclimatisation. He
says: “These large bees would doubtless be able to get honey from
flowers whose nectaries are located out of reach of ordinary bees,
notably those of the red clover, now visited chiefly by humble bees
and which, it is thought, the East Indian bees might pollinate and
cause to produce seeds more abundantly. Even if no further
utility, they might prove an important factor in the production
of large quantities of excellent wax, now such an _ expensive
article.’’
Apis indica is common in Ceylon and the southern parts of
Asia. It is domesticated in the East Indies by the Dutch and
British settlers, who keep them in habitations made of clay similar
to drain pipes, placed in trees and other elevated positions.
The worker of this species of bee is 3 inch long ; general colour,
a dark brown, almost black, with a yellow shield on the thorax
between the wings; each segment of the dorsal plates of the abdo-
men is tinged with an orange colour. The queen is about one-
fourth larger than the workers, and is readily distinguished from
them, being of a dark coppery colour. The drones are not much
larger than the workers, but differ from them in colour, being of a
metallic blue; their wings in the sunlight constantly changing
colour—something lke shot silk. They are very active, and are
said to be very gentle, while the pain resulting from their sting is
not so severe as that of A. dorsata.
Apis trigona (our native bee) are natives of Australasia, and
extend into India. They are something less than our common
house fly; colour, black, with dirty white rings on the dorsal seg-
ments of the abdomen. They generally build in the hollows of
trees, and store their honey in irregularly-formed cells. It has an
agreeable flavour, ‘but the storage of it by the bees is so small the
insect is not worth domesticating.
Apis florea._'the tiny honey bee of India, one of the smallest
of tne species known, even more slender than our native bee. In
coluar, wiey are a blue black, one-third of the abdomen having a
bright orange tinge. Like A. dorsata, they build in the open air,
fasveuiuy vuelr single comb to a twig in a bush, and, like all honey-
gathering bees, it hangs vertically. ‘I'he comb seldom contains
more than about 20 inches of surface, usually about 7 inches long
18 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
by about 3 inches in width. The cells in the comb are extremely
small; there are about 100 to the square inch.
Apis mellifica.—There are several varieties of A. mellifica, and
it is this species, on account of their use to man, that has been in
all ages so universally sought for. The black or brown, or, as it
is sometimes called, the German bee, is the common well-known
hive bee that was introduced into New South Wales by Dr.
Wilson, and is now so universally distributed throughout our
forests. The Cyprian bee, as its name indicates, is a native of
Cyprus. The dorsal segments of the abdomen are a golden yellow.
They are very irritable, easily angered by rough handling, and
susceptible to the least excitement, nevertheless they are valuable
as honey gatherers. Zhe Italian bees (Ligurians) are natives of
Italy. They have golden or leather-coloured segments on the three
dorsal plates of the abdomen nearest the thorax. Those having
the golden markings are chiefly met with in the southern parts
of the peninsula, whilst the leather-coloured are inhabitants of the
northern districts of the country. They are supposed to be a fixed
strain of a cross between the German and the Cyprian bees. Both
these varieties readily interbreed and their progeny are always re-
productive. Since the Ligurian bee has become fashionable four
and even five banded bees are to be met with. The Carniolian
bees are natives of Carniola in Austria. The workers are some-
what larger than the common black bee, neither is the abdomen
so pointed. They differ in colour in having a ring of silvery-hued
hair on each dorsal plate. As honey gatherers they probably rank
equally with the Italian bees, and the cross between the two varie-
ties is said to be superior to that between the black and Italian.
The T'unie bee is sometimes named the Punic bee; they are
natives of the northern districts of Africa. They are not so
valuable as either of the former as honey-gatherers. The best
working variety of A. mellifica is the pure Italian.
Apis dorsata, A. indica, A. trigona, A. florea, and A. mellifica
are species of the genus Apis; but the German, the Cyprian, the
Italian, and the Carniolian bees are only varieties of the species
Mellifica. Species differ from varieties in that they do not readily
interbreed, and where such intercourse takes place the progeny are
hybrids or mules, and result in not being reproductive.
changes she undergoes in her transition stages from egg to imago,
noting how she performs her various home duties, and following
her into the field, the orchard, and the garden, and watching her
in Nature’s workshops elaborating new varieties of flowers and
fruits.
The fecundation of the mother bee by the drone is the first.
element in differentiating the sexual character of the egg-germ
in the ovary of the queen-bee. Swammerdam, an old entomolo-
gist, on noting a strong odour, enanating from drone bees, was
under the impression that the said odour permeated the body of
the queen-bee, and in this way the eggs were fertilised. Francis
Huber, experimenting with the theory, confined a number of
drones in a perforated box. Placing this box of drones within
a hive, from which all drones had been excluded, and confining
a virgin queen within the same hive. Needless to say, with our
present knowledge of the domesticated bee, she became a drone-
breeder.
THE EGGS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND
TRANSFORMATION.
The egg, after fertilisatibn and the treatment it receives
after it is deposited in the worker-cell, produces one of the rank
and file. While in this cell it is termed a ‘‘worker-egg.’’ A
misnomer introduced into the bee-keeper’s vocabulary before the
scientific knowledge of the economy of the hive bee was so well
understood as at present.
There are such things as worker-eggs. They are the produce
of a fertile-worker, but these eggs always develop drone-bees.
The queen-bee, after she has satisfied herself that the cell she
has selected is wholly untenanted and cleaned ready for the recep-
tion of an egg, places her abdomen therein, and after it is with-
drawn we see fixed at the base of the cell, and parallel to ‘ts
sides, an elongated pearly-white egg, one end being rather larger
than the other.
In the larger end there is a minute doorway (micropyle) by
means of which the sexual character of the embryo drone-bee
contained therein was differentiated. These eggs remain in the
position in which they were deposited, and then gradually alter
it until they are lying parallel to the base of the cell, which
occupies about two days to complete its final position. The heat
necessary to hatch these eggs and for their after development.
should not be less than 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
66 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
Draughty hives have much to answer for in preventing early
spring swarms. So also has the too common practice of leaving
the supers on the brood-chamber without an intervening warm
quilt between the two boxes. The more snugly in the brood-
chamber the bees are kept during the winter months and early
spring, the sooner will early swarms issue, always providing the
old stock has been kept numerically strong since the previous
autumn. If ‘‘the early bird gets the first worm,’’ it is the early
swarm that gets the most honey.
When the inmate of the egg hatches, a little whitish
worm is seen lying on the bottom of the cell and parallel to it.
As soon as the little inmates are liberated from the egg-covering
they are supplied with a white semi-transparent fiuid by the
nursing bees. After receiving this food they grow rapidly and
very soon touch the angles on either side of the cell. The little
inmates literally float in this milky fluid. Very soon their couch
becomes too short to stretch themselves upon. Then they assume
a bent or semicircular position. The degrees of these circular —
segments increases until both ends meet. When there is no further
room to coil they stretch themselves along the sides. of the cell
and parallel to it.
When the larval transformation is nearly completed the
organs of locomotion commence developing, first the legs followed
by the wings, and so on; this is the beginning of the chrysalis
stage. Then the nurse bees begin the work of enclosing the in-
mates by sealing them in with a brownish mixture composed of
wax and pollen, or bee-bread, the same kind of material as the larger
cappings of the drone cells and that of the queen-bee are formed
with. Under the microscope these cappings are seen to be full of
small holes, which freely admit the warm air from the
clustering bees to be utilised by the two spiracles in the thorax
of the maturing inmate, the ten in the abdomen remaining in-
active during the final stage of this transformation.
During the second stage of transformation the larve fre-
quently mouit or change their skin; this occurs five or six times
during growth. After the final moult they are fed for about
four days. The inmate is now supplied with no more food, and
the work of cocoon-spinning begins as soon as the capping of
the cells is completed. The silken threads composing the cocoon
are produced from a fluid yielded by a gland, and the work of
its construction is exactly similar to that of the silkworm and
other cocoon-building insects. Indeed, the bee cocoon may be
THE WORKING BEE. OT
described as made of bee-silk. The fluid escapes from spinerets
in the lips-of the larve, and after its extrusion quickly hardens
and becomes fibrous. On the completion of the capping, all
further attention from the nurse-bees ceases. The construction:
of the cocoon occupies about thirty-six hours. While the final
development of the chrysalis stages are completing they remain
motionless until the twenty-first day is reached, when they emerge
from the cell to commence the duty of perpetuating their race,
having all the maternal instincts of the mother bee without the
sexual appetite and the power of parturition. The queen is onc
of the most unconcerned onlookers in the hive, as it regards the
rearing of the family that is developing from the very eggs she
has laid. Not so with the workers. Their one thought is the
protection and nurture of the helpless young; an incessant,
laborious, patient, and life-long toil; a life cut short by premature
death when the family is most numerous; not a death from a
ripe old age, but a life worn out by industrious labour, in what.
should be the spring-time of energy.
NURSE BEES.
The first duty devolving on working bees on entering the
world is the care of her brothers and sisters during their infantile
lives ; a solicitude for their welfare; their cleanliness, their health,
always anticipating their every want. Huber was the discoverer
of nurse-bees. He speaks of two kinds of workers. One of these
is, he says, ‘‘In general destined for the elaboration of wax, and
its size is considerably enlarged when full of honey; the other
immediately gives what it has collected to its companions; its
abdomen undergoes no sensible change, or it retains only the
honey necessary for its own subsistence. The particular function
of the bees of this kind is to take care of the young, for they
are not charged with provisioning the hive. In opposition to the
wax-workers, we shall call them small bees, or nurses. Although
the external difference be inconsiderable this is not an imaginary
distinction. Anatomical observations prove that the stomach is
not the same; experiments have ascertained that one of the species
cannot fulfil all the functions shared among the workers of a hive.
We painted those of each class with different colours, in order to
study their proceedings; and these were not interchanged. In
another experiment, after supplying a hive (deprived of a queen)
with brood and pollen, we saw the small bees quickly occupied
in nutrition of the larve, while those of the wax-working class
68 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.-
neglected them. Small bees also produce wax, but in a very
inferior quantity to what is elaborated by the real wax-workers.”’
There was never a more careful observer of scientific bee life
than the physically unfortunate Huber. Since the introduction
of the Italian bee, painting and other mechanical aids to observe
the various works carried on by the inmates of the hive—the
species, class, or kind so named by Huber as wax-workers, nurses
and foragers—have dwindled almost into nothingness. That in
the hive there are nurse-hees, wax-workers, foragers, etc., is well
known to the practical bee-keeper; but that these functions are
deputed to various sections of operating bees is now known to be
incorrect. Huber must have the credit of the discovery of the
division of labour among bees; but that a nurse-bee is always
a nurse-bee is incorrect. These different functions or classes
of labour carried on in the hive are performed by every bee during
her lifetime. The first duty of a working bee is that of elabora-
ting chyle food, the nursing of the inmates of the cells, and as
she advances in age so she is promoted from office to office until
she becomes a breadwinner of the establishment. In this final
duty her wings wear out, and she dies in harness, at her post,
as the little busy bee.
These nurse-bees are all-important to the bee-keeper. When
bees refuse to cluster on the brood comb, or to accept a new
queen, or even to rear one, it is because some of the natural con-
ditions of the hive are absent. A want of a sufficient number of
nurse-bees is a serious drawback to the prosperity of a colony.
In artificial swarming ‘‘forced colonisation,’’ if on the brood
comb introduced there be not sufficient adhering bees or nurses
to feed the larve the foragers become dissatisfied at the deserted
appearance of the comb, and, refusing to stay, they swarm out or
returm from whence they came. A constant, regular, and good
supply of nurse-bees is the important factor in queen raising. If
increase of colonies is the thing sought always note that the combs
introduced contain brood in all stages of development, from egg
to chrysalis, as well as a good supply of stores,—honey and pollen
—this last is indispensable.
FERTILE WORKERS. 69
CHAPTER XI.
FERTILE WORKERS.
It is not an uncommon thing, from some as yet unknown
cause, for a working bee to become procreative. They are usually
termed fertile workers. These fertile workers assume all the
functions of queens. The workers treat them as such, but I think
always with a certain amount of misgiving. They lay eggs, but
from these eggs drones are always evolved. Is this power of
laying the result of the copulation of the previous generation, or
is it a case of parthenogenesis? If parthenogenesis, how is it
that it so rarely shows itself? If a virgin queen, through some
accident to her wings or any other cause, looses the power of
flight, thus preventing her consorting with a mate, she becomes,
in bee-keepers’ phraseology, a drone-layer. In this respect she
stands exactly on the same plane with fertile workers. All un-
mated queens are always drone-layers; but drone-laying workers
(fertile workers) are of rare occurrence. In the case of drone-
laying queens, through the loss of the power of flight, she ceases
to be procreatively receptive. A fertile worker has, and has
always had, the power of flight, but, procreatively, she was never
receptive. Yet a drone-laying queen and fertile worker stand
exactly upon the same footing.
The mysteries of the bee-hive, what an interesting subject!
The reason of this is full of wisdom! In this it is seen no
working bee has a brother of full blood. It may appear to be
paradoxical. It may even appear to be absurd, seeing that the
same mother produced both the males and females of the family ;
yet, as absurd as it inay appear, it is true in fact. It may be
asked what relationship exists between the mother bee and the
drone she produces, seeing that the father of her own son was
the consort of her own mother—a relationship that is not cata-
logued in the tables of consanguinity ? cel
Thus, if the influence of the drone, both in traits of tem-
perament and working energy (although the drone works not, the
energy for such is transmitted by means of the life-germ), is it
not of paramount importance that as much, if not more, care
should be taken to produce drones of high physique and energetic
70 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
will, as is now being done in relation to queen-breeding? If the
sire in the higher type of animals is of such vital importance,
how is it that the drone bee is not viewed in the same light with
bee-keepers? . pass at a time. The longest sides of the entrance blocks being
half the whole length of the entrance, the longest sides entirely
close it when needed.
THE ALIGHTING BOARD.
THIS may be made separately and detached from the bottom-
beard, as shown below.
It will be seen that its position is in the front of the hive
at the entrance. The inclined plane makes a splendid platform
for weary bees to ascend to the hive. . By means of these inclined
plane alighting-boards the life of many a bee is saved, and many
A BorCD, 16in.; AQor BD, 10in.; BE, 3 in.
a load of honey carried home that would have been otherwise lost.
It should be made the length of the width of the hive, thus the
platform would be 16in. x 10 in. It should be so constructed that
the upper edge of the alighting-board should come flush with the
surface of bottom-board, the lower edge resting on the ground. If
a detached alighting-board be used, the bottom-board need not be
the full 24 inches.
MOVABLE BOTTOM BOARDS—LANGSTROTH SIMPLICITY HIVE. 143
COVERS OR ROOFS.
Noruimc is more injurious to bees than a leaky roof. I have
seen where a drip has penetrated and run down the sealed brood,
a space of from 1 to 2 inches of dead larve on both sides of the
comb; thus causing the destruction of not less than 20 square
inches of brood, or about 500 young bees just ready to emerge upon
the active labours of life. Far better kill 500 of the old bees that
have nearly accomplished the span of life than the developing
brood. From the former nearly all the profit has been gathered
in, whilst with the latter the whole has to come. A leaky cover
is always an irritation to a bee-keeper. As a rule, it is only dis-
covered after wet days when a promise is made to repair, but the
day of reparation seldom comes, especially with careless or half-
hearted bee-keepers. Nothing can be substituted for a well-made
watertight cover. No part of the hive requires to be more care-
fully constructed. A leaky cover is an abomination alike to the
bees and the bee-keeper. The flat top is the easiest to make. It
should always be without crack or joint, and of a light, thoroughly-
seasoned wood, and so constructed that it should lie evenly, and
with as small interstices between it and the hive as possible. Being
‘the most exposed part of the hive, it is liable to expansions and
contractions by the frequent changes in the weather, and is more
apt to warp than any other portion of the woodwork. Grooved
cleats fore and aft are the best preventive to minimise this twist-
ing. In the grooving of these end cleats there is a deal of work
for an amateur carpenter; nevertheless, it will pay in the long
run. Cleats, 1 inch wide by 3 thick, nailed or screwed to the under
side answer fairly well. A piece of wood, 22 inches long, and
the full width of the hive, and 1 inch thick, is the thing required
for a flat top roof. In the hotter parts of the State the thick-
ness of the cover is an important consideration. The thicker it is,
combined with lightness, the better, because it keeps out the heat,
thus aiding greatly in keeping a lower temperature during the
hotter months of the year, and a thick top is equally valuable in
the colder districts, the temperature of the hive being kept more
uniform.
Where economy in timber is a consideration, or where thick
wood is difficult to procure, the hipped cottage gable-end roof makes
a capital cover. In its construction care should be taken that the
joint in the ridge is perfectly watertight. ‘This may be accom-
plished by painting the roof, and, while the paint is still wet,
K
144 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
placing a strip of calico about 3 inches wide over the joint and well
rubbing it down till it is evenly stuck to the woodwork by the:
paint, then again painting the upper surface of the calico. A
strip of tin or zinc may be substituted for the calico. In
that case no painting will be needed, only for the preservation
of the wood, and if the whole hive were so treated it would look
better and last longer. Care must be exercised not to split the
woodwork in the nailing of the tin ridge-capping. A fall in the
roof about 25 inches and a 1l-inch eave will be ample for all
weather purposes. Gable-end roofs are great harbours for
spiders.
THE QUILT.
Puace a piece of American leather-cloth between the cover and
the top of the frames, the leather side downwards in the summer
months, and the cloth side downwards during winter. This leather
quilt has many advantages. If it be a flat top cover the quilt
prevents the bees glueing the top bar of the frames to the movable
roof of the hive. In the case of a cottage roof it prevents the bees
going up and building underneath it. In either case the cover
is removed with more freedom and without jarring the hive, and
thus irritating the bees. Taking the quilt by one corner and grad-
ually peeling off, prevents the light suddenly flashing on the
bees. It also subdues the anger of a bad-tempered colony. By
the aid of a quilt a bee-keeper can manipulate his bees with far
greater freedom and security.
FULL-SIZE BAR-FRAME.
THESE can now be purchased in the flat so cheaply that the
home-made amateur article is only used by bee-keepers in the
remote corners of the State, or by persons who have a deal of
spare time on their hands. In previous pages I have objected
to the use of self-spacing bar-frames, and the reasons are there
given. Briefly, they are these: These frames can only be made by
machinery or practical tradesmen. Of course, if they are pur-
chased that is not a valid objection, but sometimes it is found to
be absolutely necessary to space closer than the orthodox bee-
space between the frame. Self-spacing bar-frames cannot be so
manipulated. This objection is a valid one. Again, any small
bit of soft wood can be run out for the construction of frames,
MOVABLE BOTTOM BOARDS—-LANGSTROTH SIMPLICITY HIVE. 145
especially where the bee-keeper is so fortunate as to be in posses-
sion of a small treadle circular saw, or so clever as to make one
out of the remains of a corn sheller and an old sewing-machine.
I have seen a very serviceable circular saw so constructed. The
following are the dimensions for a full-size standard Langstroth
bar-frame :-—
A B
A B, out to out, g 1-8 inches; C A, out to out, g inches. The top bar
must be 19% inches, i.e., out to out of C D, 17 5-8 inches; two
bee-spaces, one on either side, 4 inch, equals 3 inch; plus the 34-inch
rebate on each end of the hive equals 1 inch; total, 19 1-8 inches
(17 5-8 plus 4 plus } plus 3 plus 3 equals 1g 1-8 inches).
From these measurements it will be seen no note has been
taken of inside measurements. These will be always regulated
by the thickness of the bars. It is not imperative that any inside
dimensions should be adhered to, but the outside measurements
should be scrupulously followed.
he width of the top and side bars should be 7-8 inch, but the
bottom bar not more than } inch. In fact, the narrower it is
the better, so long as there ig substance sufficient for nailing pur-
poses is all that is needed. A thin bottom bar has its advantages—
bees, in building their comb from the top bar downwards, and no
matter in what position the hive stands, will be sure to
build their combs plumb. In completing their combs bees always
leave bee-space between the base of it apd the bottom of the hive-
In the construction of comb the mid-wall—that portion of the
comb forming the base of the two sets of cells— is the first con-
structed, and is always kept a little in advance of the construc-
tion of the side walls of the cells, giving the comb, as the building
advances, the appearance of an axe-edge, being bevelled on both
146 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
sides towards the point. If the frames have been hung perfectly
plumb, and it is imperative they should be, if only for ease and
freedom in manipulation, the wax-working bees are constantly
building towards the centre of the bottom bar. From the above
it will be seen that the increment of the comb is always making
addition to the fine edge of the mid-wall, and as the wax-workers
come nearer to the bottom bar, the line of their vision being inter-
cepted by it, they conceive it to be the floor of their home. They
thus finish off their comb within the bee-space of the bottom bar.
Now, if the bottom bar be narrow, and the narrower the better,
the line of vision of the constructing bees is carried over the bar
to the floor of the hive. The result is the incorporation “of the
narrow bottom bar with the comb, leaving bee-space between it
and the floor of the hive, culminating in the comb being fixed to
the whole of the sides of the frame. This strengthens the comb
for extracting purposes, and minimises the trouble of the mani-
pulation thereof. In thickness the side bars should not be less
than § inch, whilst the top bar should be ? inch to 1 inch. A
thin top bar containing a heavy comb of honey is always iiable more
or less to sag. Another reason given for the thick top bar is, the
queen is less liable to go up in the super and convert it into a
brood chamber. The frame of the super, or the brood chamber,
may be strengthened by means of a centre bar. It is not abso-
lutely necessary to use a centre bar in brood frames, as in the
ordinary honey seasons the little surplus honey in them should
never be extracted. If a thick top bar be used, the shoulder
should be reduced to the 3 inch, or the rebate in the ends of the
hive must be sunk deeply enough to accommodate the extra thick-
ness of the top bar. It will be found much easier to reduce the
shoulders of the frame than to form a deeper rebate in the ends
of the hive.
CENTRE BAR
(Shown in the diagram by means of a dotted line).
Tue centre bar should be 3-8 inch square, and slightly longer
than the side bars. It should be sprung into its position. It will
require no other fixing. As the bees work they will inclose it in
the comb, and the bar will be as firm, or firmer than if it had
been fixed by nailing. This centre bar entirely supersedes the
necessity for wiring, a consideration that should not be over-
MOVABLE BOTTOM BOARDS—LANGSTROTH SIMPLICITY HIVE. 147
looked. It is also much cheaper. Then the contrast in the sav-
ing of time between the inserting of the centre bar and wiring
is greatly in favour of the former. ‘‘Time saved is money earned.’”
For a centre bar nothing but the waste ends cut to length is
needed. The wire of a frame, when the foundation is inserted,
must be fixed with an embedder, or the bees will not work thereon.
The many little tools or implements required in wiring are saved’
by this little simple perpendicular centre bar.
°
HALF-SIZE SUPERS OR SHALLOWS.
In dimension these are exactly the same as the full-size frame,
only the side bars are cut half the length—that is, 4} inches in
depth from out to out. It will be noticed that is a 1-16 inch less
than a true half. These shallows are now coming very much to
the front. They have advantages over the full-size frames. When
honey is coming in sparingly, the bees take to them more readily.
The honey ripens in them quicker, and the cells are sooner capped.
There is an advantage also, in the uncapping for extracting:
purposes.
THE FOLLOWER, OR DIVISION BOARD.
No hive is complete without a division board. It is a plain:
piece of board wrought in the form of a full-size frame—length
17? inches and 9 3-8 inches deep; in length and depth a little
more than the frame. The shoulders in followers must be cut
to the same gauge as the frames, so that the top of the follower
shall be flush with the tops of the frames when they are in posi--
tion in the hive. The uses of a follower are to prevent the bees
scattering too far over the hive, or, in case of a small swarm, to
confine them to one side of the hive so that they may build their
comb more regularly. Bees should never have more room than
they can occupy, without being too much overcrowded. With judi-
cious management a follower is a great help in aiding the bees
to fill up the frames with comb more systematically and regularly.
It is also of great value in wintering, as by its aid the bees are-
kept more snugly, and there is not the loss of animal heat as is the
case when bees are wintering in a full-sized hive which they can-
not fairly well fill, and can roam over at their own sweet will
148 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE:
FRAME BLOCK.
Accuracy in the external measurements of the bar-frames, inde-
pendent of the name they bear or of the form or size of their
make, is of utmost importance. Whatever may be the design of
the hive selected, and the size of the frame adopted, uniform
external measurement must be continually observed. To facilitate
this, many methods have been tried, and many an invention put
before bee-keepers all with more or less success, but none perfect.
Some of them, perhaps the most, have been cumbersome to
handle, and difficult to adjust. Amateur bee-keepers who make
their own frames soon discarded them, and fell back on_ hap-
hazard guesswork, resulting in the discovery that home-made bar-
frames are always more or less awry, fail to hang plumb, and if
there be a sufficiency of bee ‘space between the top bars, there
is too much between the bottom bars, or the bees will persistently
build between the side bar and the hive. They try every remedy
suggested, and finally come to the conclusion that to be a fairly
good practical bee-keeper needs a well-fitted carpenter's shop,
plenty of patience, and an apprenticeship to boot .
Now the following very simple contrivance will save an infi-
nite amount of trouble, a deal of vexation of spirit, and amateur
carpentering, and bee-keeping by means of its use will be voted an
enjoyable and profitable pastime.
WHS al
Of course, it is constructed of wood. Cedar or redwood is the
best kind of timber, on account of its lightness. A piece of }-
inch stuff 22 in. x 9 in., and two pieces of inch stuff, 9 in. x 2 im. is
all the wood that will be necessary. As this bar-frame block will
MOVABLE BOTTOM BOARDS—-LANGSTROTH SIMPLICITY HIVE. 149
-serve for all time, it should be made from well-seasoned timber,
neatly dressed and firmly put together.
The following are the measurements:—A B from shoulder to
‘shoulder in the end pieces, 19 1-8 inches, or the full length of a top
bar. CD about 22 inches; A C and BD, 9 inches; EF 81
inches, or the full depth of the length of one side of a frame; G
H, 172 inches, or the full length of the bottom bar of a frame.
a 6 and 6 a are two spiral springs, as shown in diagram No. 2;
6b b the screws fixing the springs to the block; ¢ c, the points of
contact with the 9-inch side pieces, A C and B D. aa, two screws
firmly screwed into the frame block, but projecting about 1 inch,
around which the spiral spring is coiled in such a manner, so that
the portions of the springs a ¢ shall have full play and capable
of extending to a sufficient width to receive the side bars of eny
frame. The shoulders at A E and B E must correspond exactly
with the projecting shoulder of the frame, both in length and
thickness.
This bar-frame block can be made as a duplicate by fixing two
additional springs and two other side-pieces. Where a large
number of frames are to be made, a double frame block is a great
advantage in point of speed. With it a very large number of
handlings are avoided.
Fig. 2.
Diagram No. 2 is an end of a double bar-frame block—c a b
and bac are the two sets of spiral springs. The end pieces are
shown grooved, and the back tongued into it. It is not necessary
to fix the two ends by tongue and groove. Of course, it is both
neater and stronger ; it also prevents any tendency to warping. If
the ends are put on in four lengths instead of two grooved pieces
they should be securely fastened with screws. Care must be
taken that the side-pieces are at right angles with the edges of the
block. This block prevents all twisting in the frames, and the
‘external measurements of frames will be the same without the
least deviation.
In putting the frame together prepare the top, bottom, and
150 ' AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE-
side bars. keeping them in three different heaps. It will not be-
necessary for the side-pieces to be of one uniform thickness. The
springs will adjust themselves to any differences that may occur.
Fix to the work-bench one or two bottom bars according to.
whether a single or double block is to be used. Place the bottom
of the block so that the fixed bottom bars shall stand in the
measurement G H. If it be a double block it will stand without.
holding. Over the one or two fixed bars, when the block is placed
in position, insert the end-pieces for the frame so the springs will
erip them firmly to the sides of the bar-frame block. Next, place
the top bar in the shoulders A E and B E, shown in diagram No.
1. The side pieces should come flush to the point E. Nail the
top bar to each end and three of the four sides will be firmly
fixed. then invert the block for the insertion of the bottom bar,
and fix it in the ends in like manner to that of the top.
This bar-frame block, besides being applied to the use named,
is also a permanent gauge for all portions of bar-frames. In dia-
gram No. 1, A B is the gauge for the top bar; G H that for the
bottom bar; and E F, less the thickness of the bottom bar, is
the gauge for the end-pieces.
It may be a difficult matter in country places to obtain or.
make the spiral springs referred to. In that case the main-spring
of an old American clock will be found as serviceable as the spiral
spring.
The clock spring must be curved, and have sufficient strength
in it to keep the end-pieces firmly against sides of the bar-frame
block. On more than one occasion when even the clock spring was
not obtainable, I have substituted a piece of iron hoop which did.
remarkably well for the time being.
BO
CONCRETE FLOORS. |
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCRETE FLOORS.
THESE are a combination, forming at once both a hive-bottom and
a hive-stand. Among bee-men, they have called forth a good deal
of comment, oral and written. Some of these comments are ad-
verse, and others complimentary. The objections are:—They are
too expensive, too heavy, and too hot. Too expensive! A cask
of cement costing 14s. in Sydney will make fifteen of them; that
is as cheap as wood, nay cheaper, because they are everlasting.
Too heavy! This will depend on the gumption of the maker; if
he places the mould on the site where the hive is to stand he will
have no occasion to remove it, and the weightiest object: to handle
will be the mould. Too hot! They were used at the Agricultural
College all’ summer, and were not found so. If this objector
had seen them in use, he would have said otherwise.
Their advantages: Being made on the surface of the ground
there is no harbour for bee vermin, such as spiders, earwigs, etc.
An eight-frame hive covers a superficial area of 280 inches, and
that of the concrete floor about 700 inches; being considerably
more than twice the area of a hive, it thus prevents weeds etc.,
overgrowing the hives, and gives 'free access for the bees at all
times. They are fireproof. Of late many a hive of bees would
have been saved if these concrete floors had been used; wooden
ones soon take fire. They are much cleaner than wood; are not
affected by conditions of weather, therefore they do not shrink,
crack or warp. They never require painting, and will remain
serviceable for generations, improving with age. Can this be said
of wood? The bee entrance can be contracted to nil or expanded
to 24 in. x 9 in., so that the bees can fly directly in among the
combs if it be so desired. ‘The entrance has a fall of 24 inches
in 9 inches, so no rain can beat therein.
The diagrams are lettered from ‘‘A’’ to ‘‘E.’’ ‘‘A’’ is the
frame in which ‘‘B’’ was moulded.» The bevel of it is 9 in. x 18
in. Iv gives a full width entrance to an eight-frame or a ten-
frame hive, and the first concrete floors used at the Hawkesbury
152 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE-
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Dd
CONCRETE FLOORS. 153
Agricultural College were of this type. ‘‘C’”’ is the frame in
which ‘‘D’’? was moulded. It will be noted that the difference
between ‘‘B’’ and ‘‘D’’ is that the latter has a 44 inch shoulder
on either side. This when the hive is brought fully forward, gives
it a more solid foundation to stand on, and at the same time gives
protection from cold currents of air sweeping underneath the hive.
‘*E”’ is the tongue that forms the entrance.
In modelling these floors proceed thus: Select the site, place
the moulding frame thereon, first ramming the soil firmly down ;
try the frame with a spirit level; when true, fill in about 1 inch
in thickness the full width of the frame, and about 10 inches on
‘the end where the shoulders of the floor are, with two of sand
and one of cement. Insert the tongue, as shown in ‘‘C,’’ then
fill in the remaining portion of the frame with concrete, level with
the top of the frame. Leave all to stand for twenty-four hours
or more. Take out the tongue (‘‘E’’), lift the frame (‘‘C’’) by
the handles as shown. The block will appear very rough, but
finish it off with a thin coating of a mixture of two of clean sand
and one of cement. The more cement is used in this final coating
the more impervious to damp will the block be. Put this final
coating on with a trowel. When the whole block is coated, if it
be rubbed over with a piece of old bagging made very wet, there
will be a very good smooth surface.
The concrete can be formed with gravel, sand, and cement,
one part of the latter to two of the former; or fill in the frame
‘with broken bricks, stones, etc., and pour in the mixture of sand
and cement until the frame is full, when the whole mass may be
gently rammed together.
154 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE HAWKESBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
APIARY.
>
WitH the object of increasing the facilities for practical instruc-
tion in agriculture at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, the
Minister for Agriculture decided some time ago, to have a new
apiary laid out on an extended scale, and to equip it with every-
thing calculated to be of educational interest not only to the
college students, but visitors. I have had the privilege of super-
intending this work, and now take the opportunity of affording
readers a very full account of what has already been accom-
plished in the arrangement and equipment of this important
branch. The site chosen for the new apiary is about a hundred
yards distant from the old one, and to the front of the old honey-
house, which is being retained in its present position with sundry
alterations. There were too many twists and turns from the old
apiary to reach the extracting-room. By referring to the ground
plan it will be seen the present apiary is directly in front of the
last-mentioned room, and the footpath leading from the one to the
other is direct.
In shape this new area is the same as the old one—oblong ;
but the area is greater, being 120 yards long by 80 yards wide.
The site is a little too flat; but by artificial means the drainage
can be made fairly effective. It is enclosed by a_ post
and wire fence with a top rail. The site is laid out
lawn-like, or, perhaps more correctly speaking, as a_ par-
terre, being interspersed with flower beds and flowering shrubs.
All these have honey-bearing characteristics. Of course, all bee-
keepers know the uselessness of planting flowers solely for the
honey they produce. Nevertheless, here and on other parts of
the college grounds honey-producing plants are and will be
planted for experimenting in their honey-yielding value. The
apiary is intersected with a series of paths. These are 4 feet wide,
THE HAWKESBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE APIARY
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1. General View of New Apiary and Kiosk.
2. Hive and Section Cradle Filled.
155
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THE HAWKESBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE APIARY. 157
and well gravelled, running parallel with sides of the enclosure,
and others at right angles thereto.
Among the most useful and novel additions to this new
apiary are the concrete floors for the hives; they are the author’s
improvement upon the old wooden floor. These serve a double
purpose, being at one and the same time both stand and bottom-
board for the hives. Those shown in the illustration are made from
the mould A shown on page 152; those made from mould C are on
the other side of the apiary, and do not come into focus; the
mesurements will also be found on page 152. The advantages
of these concrete hive-stands will be at once apparent to every
bee-keeper. Being slightly let into the ground, the sloping por-
tion of the stands are on the same plane as the lawn; and the
hive, when placed on the stand, is 3 in. higher. There is no wood
in connection with the stand or hive bottom, therefore no decay.
The stands are solid, having no interstices of any description, and
being bedded in sand, there is no harbour for vermin. Being
solid, and the superficial area greater than that of the hives, grass
and other weeds cannot grow so close to the hives, and so inter-
rupt the ingress or egress of the bees. They are cool and dry,
and by moving the hives fore and aft they are easily washed and
dried. To accommodate the hives to these stands, it is necessary
to add a three-eighth inch depth to the brood-chamber, so as to
permit bee-space beneath the frames; thus the brood-chamber is
not interchangeable with the supers. By removing the hive to-
wards and over the slope in the stand, any amount of space can
be given for ventilating purposes.
The hives in the apiary are of almost every description that
is, and has been, in use; the original Langstroth, the Langstroth
Simplicity, the Long-Idea, the Heddon, the Berlepsch, the Obser-
vation, the Munday, the old straw skip, and even the old box or
gin-case hive, are to be seen. But why so many types of hives?
And why so many varieties of fowls in the poultry-yard? Simply,
to use a vulgarism, “‘you pay your cash and take your choice.’’
Every variety of poultry has its advocate, either as profitable or
ornamental. So with the bee hives. But why go back so far as
the old gin-cases; why not go back further to the cave days when
bees were kept in clay pots?) The main reason for the variety
of hives is that in the country districts of this State apiculture
is in a transitional state, especially so in the backblocks, and gin-
case hives will serve as object lessons in transferring and demon-
strating the advantages of modern methods.
1458 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.
The bar-frames are of all patterns. In some the thin top
bar, bottom bar and sides of equal width (experience only
will teach how to space), the full length, thick top bar, with
self-spacing sides and narrow bottom bar, the short thick top bar
with staple ends, are all in use. They are all educational, and
answer many a student’s and visitor’s query of ‘‘Why ?’’
The sections, too, in hke manner are very diversified ; so also
are the separators and the section holders or cradles. One section
holder or cradle with its separators is unique, as it is only at
the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, and at the author’s home
it is in use. It was exhibited at a Royal Agricultural
Show, and called forth the usual amount of comments that are
bestowed upon all improvements in bee-keeping or anything else.
It is made of wire; two of the sides act with a spring and the
sections therefore are self-adjusting. It is Fig. 3 in the illustra-
tion, shows 3 spring sides, which are not necessary. There
are no thumb-screws, wedges, or other appliances used for keeping
them firm in the super. The separators are made from queen-
excluding zinc. When the cradle is fitted it is not made secure in
the shallows as is usually the case. The burr-comb being removed
from the frames of the brood-chamber, the wire cradle, with its
contents, is placed thereon, as seen in the accompanying Fig. 2,
the frame of the half-size super swrrownds it, and the ordinary
lid covers it. The two latter are easily removed, and when so
removed, the cradle resting on the frames, by pressing open the
spring side or end the full sections can be removed, and the empty
ones replaced without the slightest trouble. The only drawback
to these wire cradles coming into general use is, they are rather
expensive; but then they are everlasting. These last remarks
will also apply to the concrete hive-stands.
In the centre stands the kiosk. There is nothing new either
in design or make, but there is in its use. It is an ornate struc-
ture, having a concrete floor. In the centre is an octagon table,
and there is ample room for six or eight visitors to sit under-
neath the shade of its roof, which has an octagonal ceiling. From
the centre of this ceiling there is suspended a mosquito net, suffi-
ciently large to envelop the visitors seated around the table.
The object is to protect the timid visitor from the too inquisitive
bee.
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